Noesis. Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities

Poverty and municipal production in the State of Mexico. A Durbin model of spatial effects, 2020

2025-01-27T07:42:48-07:00

Following Mexico City, the State of Mexico is the most important entity in the country due to its contribution to the gross domestic product; however, it is the entity that houses the largest number of poor people. Hence it is argued that the economic growth of the entity has not been sufficient to generate the conditions for homogeneous development among its municipalities, which is manifest in better social indicators, including poverty reduction. This article analyzes the poverty levels of the municipalities in the State of Mexico and identifies the subsectors with the highest degree of specialization that can contribute to reducing the entity's poverty levels. With municipal statistical information from 2020, a spatial Durbin model (SDM) is estimated to model the determinants of poverty and the existence of spatial neighborhood and spatial diffusion and identify whether the productive specialization of municipalities can be a factor that contributes to the reduction of poverty. The results showed that there is a spatial association of poverty at the municipal level and that economic activity – based on gross census value added –, per capita social spending, and attention to social conditions such as educational backwardness and lack of health services are factors of spatial diffusion that can contribute to poverty reduction.

Spatial Autocorrelation and Vote Distribution in Ciudad Juárez: A Comparative Analysis (2018–2024)

2025-03-13T07:44:05-06:00

Examining elections requires understanding not only the political system but also its manifestation in geographic space. In this context, the objective of this study is to analyze how vote concentration and its geographic interdependence shaped the outcomes of the 2018 and 2024 presidential elections in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Electoral precinct-level data collected from Mexico’s National Electoral Institute were utilized. Local spatial autocorrelation techniques were applied to identify statistically significant clusters. The data analysis reveals marked geographic polarization: Andrés Manuel López Obrador secured, on average, 53% of votes per electoral precinct in 2018, while Claudia Sheinbaum obtained 72% in 2024, both garnering stronger support in the northwestern and southeastern zones of the city. In contrast, opposition candidates concentrated their support in the northeastern zone. Empirical evidence supports the relationship between socioeconomic conditions and voting patterns. The neighborhood effect demonstrates the clustering of precincts with similar socioeconomic characteristics, confirming the role of “place” as an explanatory dimension for homogeneous voting patterns. This work contributes to the fields of electoral geography and urban studies, providing an analytical framework for future research exploring the interaction between space and politics.

Governance and Financing for Green Investment in the Sonora Plan: Strategies for Nearshoring and Cross-Border Cooperation

2025-03-10T10:43:06-06:00

The present study identifies financing and governance models for attracting Green Foreign Direct Investment (GFDI) in Sonora, with a focus on the development of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) and cross-border cooperation with Arizona. The objective is to determine how these mechanisms can strengthen the Sonora Sustainable Energy Plan within the context of nearshoring and energy transition. The methodology employed is a systematic literature review using the SALSA framework (Search, Appraisal, Synthesis, and Analysis), analyzing academic studies, reports from multilateral organizations, and public policies on GFDI, sustainable financing, and multilevel governance. The results highlight that regulatory stability, institutional cooperation, and financial incentives are key determinants for attracting foreign investment in strategic sectors such as renewable energy and advanced manufacturing. The study underscores the need to integrate green bonds and hybrid financing to reduce dependence on public funding. Additionally, it identifies that Sonora-Arizona cooperation plays a crucial role in enhancing regional competitiveness. Among the study’s limitations are the lack of disaggregated data on the actual impact of the Sonora Plan and the absence of interviews with key stakeholders. The study concludes that the success of the Plan requires strengthening multilevel governance, developing sustainable infrastructure through PPPs, and enhancing cross-border integration to ensure the region’s viability in the reconfiguration of global value chains.

Student participation in university democracy: a right under construction in postmodernity

2025-04-03T13:30:33-06:00

Political participation is essential for democracy, as it allows people to influence collective decisions and ensures an equitable exercise of power. In this context, universities are configured as fundamental spaces for civic education, in which students emerge as forerunners in the defense of democratic values. Nonetheless, in recent decades, these institutions have experienced profound structural transformations linked to an excessive commercialization inherent to late modernity, which makes it imperative to analyze current student participation to understand the conditions, forms of organization, and re-signification of their involvement in a postmodern context. Considering this, the present study employed qualitative methods to analyze the landscape of political participation at a university in Yucatán, Mexico. The results revealed the challenges and difficulties faced by students, as well as the emergence of divergent forms of participation that young people promote to enrich democratic life. It is concluded that many of the shortcomings of contemporary democracy are reproduced within the university, but the possibility also arises to conceive student participation as a fundamental guarantee of multiple dimensions, configured as a right in constant construction and adapted to new youth realities both within and outside the institutional sphere.